


Melt

by orphan_account



Category: Free!
Genre: Cliche, F/M, Fluff, Kind of vague, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 13:11:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2151939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the very least, if his company failed to hold her interest, she could ogle his, to quote the boys, ‘perfect body’.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Melt

**Author's Note:**

> As this is a first fic, I would greatly appreciate if you could criticise as harshly and constructively as possible. Also, beware the cliches and the sweetness.

It had started off as little more than an experiment; a venture into the world of romance the rest of her friends seemed so well versed in. They’d met at a swimming tournament, he being the captain of the winning team and she the manager of her small band of boys. He’d happened to glance her way, and within seconds he was in her personal space, shamelessly blabbering that hey he knew this was sudden, but wow, she was cute, and did she want to go out for ice cream sometime?

She’d been appalled, of course, and she’d almost turned him down. When it dawned on her, though, that having a contact like him could really help the team, she’d agreed straightaway. He was a nice guy (too nice), easy on the eyes and not too shabby a conversation partner. It helped that he was so enamoured by her. At the very least, if his company failed to hold her interest, she could ogle his, to quote the boys, ‘perfect body’.

It turned out she didn't need to resort to fantasising on their first date, because, while he talked too much and was far too moony and excited and painfully inexperienced (more so than her, apparently, and so what if that left her feeling smug), he was entertaining: at one point, her melting ice cream dripped onto her sundress, and as he helped her clean it off, his fingers accidentally grazed her knees – immediately he jerked back, blushing and stammering apologies until the redness of his face rivaled the cherry glaze on her dessert. By the time she’d finished her treat, he was barely halfway through his, having devoted the entirety of his attention to watching her. She didn't know whether to be flattered at the intensity of his interest or cowed by his near-obsession. She settled for amused.

It was probably over the course of their third date that her amusement turned into a gentle sort-of-affection. The third date was less of a _date_ , so to speak, than a meeting about an upcoming joint practice session between their teams, but he insisted that they go to the park down the street from his house to see this awesome new water feature the council had recently installed, and, having time to kill that afternoon, she had agreed. She’d been politely ignoring his poorly executed attempts at getting her to acknowledge his undying love for her, when he’d suddenly saved a four-year-old boy who had been playing a little too close to the edge of the fountain from falling in, and then he’d disregarded his soaked jacket in favour of soothing the boy’s tears, and. Well. Her heart had done this flip-flop thing. And when the boy’s mother had thanked them and walked off cajoling the child hugged tightly in her arms, she’d leaned up and pecked his cheek, and said, while she was as new to this dating thing as was he, and she wasn't sure if she could commit herself to a formal relationship yet, she could definitely see that he was a good person, and she liked him too. When they parted ways in front of his house, they shared their first kiss. (It was little more than a hasty, dry brush of lips, but when they parted, he looked like he’d conquered the _world_.)

It didn't take long for her to fall in love with him. He was very attractive; all bright red hair and tanned muscle and hazel eyes that positively glowed in the right kind of light. He was brave and kind and honest and incredibly driven. He was a prodigious swimmer and an admirable leader; her brother took every chance he could to attest to that. The transition between him as team captain and him as her boyfriend never failed to astonish her. He was hopelessly eager for her approval, but she came to welcome the attention. When he got too close for comfort, it was all too easy to forgive him; by the second month of their relationship she knew without a doubt that touching her _like that_ was the last thing on his mind. He was drunk on her affection and honestly, she loved it.

He knew just how to comfort her, too. When her brother had one of his (now much rarer) temper tantrums, or the team faced a devastating loss, she would only need to take a look at her phone screen, where there would unfailingly be a message telling her she was loved, she was missed, there was some trinket at some shop that reminded him of her, their pet puppy (picked up from the roadside on a rainy afternoon) was drooling all over his carpet, and how had her day gone. She would usually reply with a simple, short response, and he would be happy with what he got. When, on her bad days, she couldn't manage even that, he’d call her. Sometimes his embarrassed, earnest words would cheer her right up, and sometimes, they wouldn't, and she’d take it out on him. He’d endure it, then gently pry into the heart of the matter, calm her worries, give her genuine advice and help when he could. She would try to return the favour when she could tell he wasn't doing too well himself, but it never seemed to be enough, and he would never let her worry too long about him.

It wasn’t as though their relationship was perfect, they had their ups and downs like any other. She couldn't always deal with his constant attention, his intense devotion, his cheerfulness. She got frustrated because he refused to do anything more than kiss her. Chastely. Until they got married, or so he said. She wished he’d share his problems with her, too, rather than slave around for her and keep secret his own day-to-day hurdles whenever they spoke. He was very insecure; he knew she hadn’t taken his crush on her seriously at first, and he feared that she might break off their relationship at any point. He was often conflicted between his devotion to her and his devotion to swimming. He appreciated that she cared about his problems, but honestly, they weren't very serious, and he would rather deal with them himself than force her to suffer with him.

But they worked their way through the hurdles. As it is said, communication is key – if he wished to speak about something, he never hesitated to speak frankly, and she, in turn, appreciated and reciprocated. They had only once reached a near-breaking point; it had started off as a petty quarrel over the next place they would meet up at and escalated into an ugly fight about long distance relationships (in retrospect, she could never quite remember how one led to the other). It had taken strenuous effort from mutual friends to get them to talk to each other after two weeks of avoidance. They’d resolved their differences within five tearful minutes and spent the night stargazing.

And yes, they were different kinds of people with different dreams. Normally, she wouldn't have looked twice at anything but his forearms, and then she would have forgotten about him. Normally, he would have pined for her for months without ever receiving a positive response. But normal had changed its course, and they’d shared ice cream together on a day hot enough to melt her cherry sundae through the air conditioning of the parlour, and it had taken time, but they had fallen in love, painfully clichéd as it was. And if he dreamed of swimming at the Olympics and retiring as a vet, but she dreamed of managing glamorous boy bands working in eccentric studios in the middle of Tokyo, it was okay, because while their dreams might take them along different paths, they still had their dates at water features in public parks, their chaste kisses, their embarrassingly elaborate text messages. And it was more than enough.


End file.
